Check out this author spotlight for Mark Timmony!

You can find all his links furthest down the page, and don’t forget to check out his books!

1. Hi! Welcome to my humble blog of all things bookish! I would like for us to start by getting to know you. Give us a short bio, please!

Hi! Thanks for having me. My name is Mark Timmony I was born and bred on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. I’ve wanted to write for as long as I can remember, and I have several notebooks filled with illegible scribblings from childhood to prove it! The desire to write led me to find work as a bookseller surrounding myself with epic fantasy and sci-fi novels.

2. To get to know you just a little bit better, I’d like to ask you some this or that questions. Answer 5 of these and explain why you chose this or that, or maybe an entirely different alternative!

Winter, spring, summer or autumn?
– Winter! I’m a winter baby (May in the southern hemisphere) and I have always loved the cold. Summer in Sydney is awful lol.

Cat or dog?
– Cat. I’m a bit of an introvert and find dogs want way too much attention. A cat however can appreciate the desire to be present but left alone.

Library or museums?
– is this even a question? Library all the way! Surround me with books please!

Mountains or beaches?
– I love a good view but give me the water any day please!

Standalone or series?
– Series! I want something to sink my teeth into 😀

3. When you look for books to read, what trope or type of story will always catch your attention?

I have to admit I am a sucker for the ‘chosen one’ trope. That being said, I grew up reading The Wheel of Time, so the story also has to be sprawling and EPIC.

4. What do you write? Tell us about your current projects and the latest happenings!

I write epic fantasy, and my current release – The Blood of the Spear – has been many years in the making. For three millennia the Sahrin – men and women marked by the Eye of Eternity and gifted with the ability to summon beings from other dimensions – led humanity to heights undreamt of by their star-faring forefathers. In their pursuit of power and immortality, ten summoners opened a gateway to the Void and fell prey to daemonic possession. The war that followed destroyed the civilization the Summoners had built, and the Sundering changed the face of the world forever.

At the war’s end a Seer foresaw that with the tear in the Veil, daemons would forever more hunt those born with the Mark of the Summoner. Since that time, though records held in the Shrines of the Elder Gods venerate the Sahrin as saviours, the people have feared the Summoners as destroyers. Any child born with the Mark, or any man or woman upon whom it appears, is executed before they might fall to possession and unleash forces that cannot be controlled.

But in the chaotic years after the Sundering, other Seers were plagued with conflicting visions and prophecies. They saw that the Summoners would return and that the daemons hordes would also come again. And that an Empyros – the most powerful of all Summoners – would be born. And in his hands, he would hold the world’s salvation or its destruction.

5. What is your most recent release? Give us a short presentation, cover, and a link for where to buy it!

My novel, The Blood of the Spear, starts almost four thousand years later, with two brothers who are revealed to be descended from the last great Empyros of the Summoners. Having grown up in the Borderland Wilds Kaiel and Darien have led rather sheltered lives and when their heritage is revealed they find themselves on the run from a prince, daemonic hordes, and a prophecy that could break the world anew.

You can find The Blood of the Spear here!

https://geni.us/ASyAXy

6. What real-life inspiration do you draw from, and what are your primary fictional sources of inspiration (books, authors, films, music, etc.)? Name a few!

I can’t say that any real-life events inspire me, some people – characteristics of. and how humans can be moved by love, hope and personal honour, or betrayal, passion and greed – give me a lot of fodder to work with. As do the greats, like Robert Jordan, George R.R. Martin, Frank Herbert, Janny Wurts, Raymond E. Feist, Michelle West and Melanie Rawn. Their works have all played a part in the writer I’ve become and aspire to be. And of course films like (the original) Star Wars trilogy still impact me today.
 

7. What is your writing routine? If you have one, give us the run-down!

When I am writing a first draft, I look for five 30-minute spaces throughout the day where I can write – I call these sessions bursts. Sitting still for hours at a time doesn’t work for me, but 30 minutes (once it becomes a habit) gives me enough time to get 1 page written (I don’t really count words at this stage), so by the end of the day I have 5 pages down. The momentum this build can be quite impressive over time.

Once the first draft is done, I then move on to a re-read and start making notes on things that need to change, be tweaked, or tightened (or even deleted or completely rewritten). After that’s done, I hand the manuscript out to my beta-readers and wait for their feedback.
 

8. If you could go back and give yourself one piece of advice as you started out on the path to becoming an author, what would it be?

My advice to past me would be to ‘just do it’. Stop wasting so much time on world-building and wishing you’d already written and just do the work. Starting (for me) was the biggest hurdle.

9- Last but not least: where can we find you? Drop those links!

Thanks for having me! You can find me here:
https://marktimmony.com/
https://www.instagram.com/marktimmony/
https://www.facebook.com/marktimmony/
https://twitter.com/MarkTimmony
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21396871.Mark_Timmony
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/mark-timmony